News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Lake Roosevelt Schools will continue to feed and teach students, just not in the school. Following Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcment March 13 that schools statewide would close, the Grand Coulee Dam School District released a parent and community update Monday outlining how Lake Roosevelt Schools are being affected by the coronavirus response. Superintendent Paul Turner noted that there were seven confirmed cases in Grant County. “Our job will be to continue enhancing our position to help reduce the spread of this virus and hopefully keep it out... Full story
Electric City will seek an extension for their Ice Age Park grant through the state’s Recreation & Conservation Office. At the March 10 city council meeting, Mayor Diane Kohout told the council that the city received a letter from the RCO saying the city either needed to begin construction on the park before the end of March, or request the extension. The delay comes from trying to get the cost of the park down. The target cost for the park is a total of $515,000 to be paid in part with $257,500 in RCO grant money, and with a match from the cit...
Construction may resume soon on controversial street projects in Electric City, and city council members spoke on the topic at their March 10 meeting. A parking lot in front of city hall was built over what had been a stretch of Western Avenue, causing additional turns for those who use that route, including the local fire station. Sidewalk work on Coulee Boulevard, Electric City’s main street along SR-155, is another controversial project due to it limiting parking for businesses there. Mayor Diane Kohout told the council that she received n...
A Grant County resident has died after becoming infected with the coronavirus, but an Okanogan County resident’s test results came back negative as have some at Coulee Medical Center. And community organizations are taking precautions against COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus. Grant County Health District stated Sunday that a Quincy resident resident in his 80s, who had tested positive for COVID-19, had died. The GCHD “has and will continue to follow up with close contacts of this patient,” their press release states. “We know that... Full story
A collection of early and rare photos highlighting the history of Steamboat Rock is being published and will be available for purchase in April. The book tells a linear story of Steamboat Rock, from Native American legends, to early pioneers, to the introduction of automobiles, to the construction of the dam, the flooding of Banks Lake, becoming a state park, and more. Local man John "Jay" M. Kemble, compiled the book titled "Steamboat Rock" for Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series. "...
The Lake Roosevelt Raiders took fourth in the WIAA Hardwood Classic state basketball tournament at Spokane Arena Saturday, accomplishing a preseason goal of placing better than last year's sixth place at state. Lake Roosevelt played a tight game against the Wahkiakum Mules March 4, in which the Raiders came from behind to win at the last second. The Mules led 17-10 after the first quarter, and 35-27 at the half. In the second half, the Raiders staged a comeback, taking the lead 47-44 in the thir...
Karen Pace, who has been the music teacher at Lake Roosevelt schools for the past five years, and Terry Owen, who has been driving bus for LR for the past 32 years, will be honored with excellence awards next month. Superintendent Paul Turner announced the winners to school staff Feb. 27. Turner said both Pace and Owen received multiple nominations from their fellow staff members. The awards are organized by the North Central Educational Service District, Turner said, and Pace and Owen will be among those honored at its Excellence Awards Banque...
COVID-19, or the coronavirus, has received widespread news coverage, and as cases and deaths in Washington have been confirmed, how does it affect the local community? "Please be reassured that we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our community," stated an email sent to Coulee Medical Center staff Tuesday. The email said the hospital "is taking a proactive approach in preventing potential exposure to staff and patients by screening all visitors and patients prior to entrance into the... Full story
A potential new, big hydro-electric project for the Coulee area, could be more likely to happen sooner than later if legislation being considered by the Senate in Washington D.C. passes. The $1.4 billion Banks Lake Pump Storage Project, proposed by Columbia Basin Hydropower, would bring in an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 workers to build a gravity-fed, pumped-storage system that would drain water from Banks Lake back down to Lake Roosevelt, turning generators in the process, and later pump the...
Special detectors may be installed at Lake Roosevelt Schools to address “rampant” vaping at the school. Vaping, which delivers nicotine to the user without tobacco present, is said to be dangerous to the health of anyone by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and especially to the development of adolescent brains. But students can vape discreetly, even in classrooms, with the devices used to vape being particularly small and the vapor itself often odorless and dissipating quickly. Getting some tech help to address the situation is...
February proved to be a bad month for restaurant buildings. On Feb. 21, at about 4:12 p.m., a Coulee City woman drove over the curb on Main Street in Grand Coulee, hitting the outside of Siam Palace, before going into reverse and backing into an alleyway. According to a police report from Officer Dan Holland of the Grand Coulee Police Department, the vehicle, a 1995 Ford Ranger, jumped the curb and hit Siam Palace, causing an estimated $10,000 in damage when the vehicle pushed in a concrete planter, bent a window frame, caused damage to the...
The role of a journalist is to be the eyes and ears for the readers. So while at a school board meeting, city council meeting, events, and so on, things that people may not have the time to go to, or don’t have a large enough interest in going to, my job is to listen for what’s interesting and present that to the readers. What are school or city officials saying? What are they doing? What laws are they passing? What changes are happening? What are people saying during the public comments part of the meeting? Public meetings are on the rec...
The Raider basketball team is done with the regional round of the Hardwood Classic state tournament following a loss against the Toutle Lake Ducks. Lake Roosevelt lost to the Ducks 59-43 Saturday in Longview. The game started out rough for the Raiders, who only put up two points in the first quarter to the Ducks' 14. LR found their rhythm in the second quarter when they outscored the Ducks 14-12, including three-point shots from Hunter Whitelaw and Tyson Nicholson, cutting the Toutle Lake's...
The Lady Raiders' season ended Saturday with a loss to Mossy Rock in the regional round of the state tournament in Longview. The Lake Roosevelt girls racked up a win-loss record of 11-5 in the league, 14-11 overall, including the postseason. In Longview against the Mossy Rock Lady Vikings Saturday, LR lost 45-39 in a scrappy game that was tied up many times in the first and fourth quarters, with the Lady Raiders eeking out a one-point lead at 32-31 at the end of the third. But the Lady Vikings...
A conversation on school bus communication and discipline goes ’round and ’round, and a new director of transportation says he is addressing the issues repeatedly raised over the last couple months. The topic of school bus communication, as well as discipline on the bus, was brought up again at the Feb. 24 Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting, a topic raised back in December of 2019 as well as January 2020. Former school board director Brenda Covington, who has brought up the topic in previous meetings, asked for an update on the top...
The city of Grand Coulee is on track to sign a new contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to provide law enforcement services for the federal agency. The city is currently operating on a six-month extension on a contract that expired in November 2019, a contract in which the city’s police provide additional security at the Grand Coulee Dam. That contract adds four additional officers to the Grand Coulee Police Department, which serves Grand Coulee and Electric City, for a total of eight officers, plus a reserve officer. The bureau pays th...
Craig Moran held up a 30-year-old hawk to a room full of young students at the Vets Hall in Electric City during a two-day event to educate them about birds of prey. Moran, of RaptorLife, a company that teaches people about the raptor category of birds, was showing them August, a 30-year-old ferruginous hawk, that was taken from a nest in Wyoming in 1990. Moran spoke to a mixture of fourth- through eighth-grade students from Lake Roosevelt Schools, and from schools in Wilbur, Creston,...
Ryan Fish was named the new chief of the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department at the city's Feb. 18 council meeting. A crowd of about 20 people, including several from the department, applauded after Fish's appointment was announced by Mayor Paul Townsend, who gave Fish his badge. "Thank you for stepping up and doing what you do, and what you're going to do for the city," Townsend said. The fire chief position was opened after Rick Paris retired as chief at the end of 2019 after 23 years in...
Raider wrestlers competed at the Mat Classic XXXII 1B/2B state tournament on Feb. 21-22 at the Tacoma Dome, where they placed fifth as a team with several medalists. Out of eight LR participants at the tournament, five placed, including Colton Jackson, who took second place in the 106-pound weight class; Julian Lopez, fifth at 113; Sergio Galacia, sixth at 182; Myka Boyd, fifth at 195; and Trevon Johnson fifth at 220. LR placed fifth as a team out of 40 with 77 team points. Tonasket won with...
The Lady Raiders secured their place in the regional tournament by defeating a team that had beaten them by nine points in January. The Lady Raiders, from District 6, played District 5's White Swan Lady Cougars Saturday in Quincy in a tense district crossover playoff game. LR pulled off a seven-point victory, 55-48, to send the team to the regional tournament on Saturday, at Mark Morris High School in Longview. LR led by a slim margin most of the game, but the Cougars tied it twice at 33 and 36...
The Raiders won their Districts 5/6 crossover game against a District 5 opponent Friday, and will now move onto the regional tournament beginning in Longview. Lake Roosevelt played Liberty Christian High School from Richland on Feb. 21 on neutral ground in Quincy in the district crossover game where the Raiders defeated the Patriots 70-28. Soarin' Marchand hit eight of 10 three-point shots in the game in which the Raiders were 45-16 at the half. That allowed plenty of tournament playing time...
People in Electric City spoke for and against building a new park last week, with most agreeing that a new park would be good, but with little agreement on how far over budget an offered bid was or on where the money should come from. The Ice Age Park project in Electric City is delayed further but is still possible, following a rejection of the bid at the Feb. 11 city council meeting in which community members discussed the merits of the park, and confusion over costs cropped up. Community members, council members, and park committee members...
People have been using the recycling receptacles placed at the Delano Regional Transfer Station, but not everyone has been using them correctly, resulting in contaminated loads which could lead to the recycling service going away. The Regional Board of Mayors meeting didn’t get around to addressing the agenda items at their Feb. 10 meeting due to a mayor or representative from Elmer City not being present to complete the quorum; however, the three mayors present — Diane Kohout, of Electric City; Paul Townsend, of Grand Coulee; and Bob Poc...
An ordinance banning fireworks from Electric City that was being considered has been dropped by the city council. At their Feb. 11 council meeting, the matter was discussed by council members, Fire Chief Mark Payne, and more, that since most fireworks that draw complaints from people are already illegal, such as rockets that may land on somebody’s roof, it didn’t make sense to make something illegal that was already illegal, like wearing a hat on a hat. Councilmember Brian Buche expressed a concern over how to enforce such an ordinance. The...
Raider wrestlers are state bound following a successful performance at regionals last weekend. Ten out of 12 Raider wrestlers who competed at the regional tournament in Oroville on Saturday will be heading to the state Mat Classic XXXII at the Tacoma Dome Friday and Saturday. "It went well," Head Coach Billy Monroe said about the 1B/2B Region 2 tournament. "We finished up second as a team behind the Tonasket Machine." LR's 153 team points placed them second out of 12 teams, with Tonasket...